Fingerless mitts and other obsessions

Leaf-patterned fingerless mitts...pattern at Ravelry
Made in Plymouth Stone Cotton

Sooooo....yeah. Got back into knitting big time this summer, slightly before and during Ravelympics the Ravellry Games (whatever). No, I have not made any more quilt squares, although the box is back on my dining room table, ready to get itself together sometime in the new year. I still need to finish my Ravellry Games project, a Union Jack done in intarsia (never done intarsia before, that was the point of choosing this project...even if I didn't medal). Tess is eagerly awaiting the new cushion for her bedroom. Given my gauge issues (I knit loose...REALLY loose), however, this may become more of a wall hanging.

As a matter of fact, I was drinking tea while working on this.

I choose the Union Jack in honor of the summer Olympics, and because I've wanted to try intarsia for a while...I do, after all, have a rather large stash of Rowan Summer Tweed that is supposed to be a blanket...in intarsia. Not that I really *love* intarsia (also the point of this project...to try intarsia on a small scale), but what else could I do with the wild mix of Kaffe Fassett-ordered colors for this blanket? That would be a hell of a lot of washcloths.

The one thing a Union Jack flag has going for it? Uneven diagonal lines. Yes, those are supposed to look crooked like that. Thank you, United Kingdom. This design allowed me to drink and knit (not always with the greatest results, naturally) and do duplicate stitch later to cover my mistakes. Fourteen rows to go...! I want to finish this in 2012.

Scrapbooking? What's that? I am still working on 2011 photos (I printed out 300+ for Scrap Camp last year, after all, and only got through about 50). I am doggedly sticking to my chronological plan, but haven't taken my Fridays for myself in a while, so I haven't made much of a dent in those this year. I didn't attend Scrap Camp in 2012 because I sacrificed my crafts budget to pay off new, desperately needed bifocals and bifocal sunglasses. One more (interest free) payment to go...I have expensive tastes.


My only resolution for 2012 was to learn crochet. I finally did that this summer, with a real live teacher, at my friend Kelly's house. I picked up the Tunisian Crochet class at Craftsy and am working on finishing the sampler washcloth...it's an enjoyable alternative once you know crochet basics. Can't wait to work on the class shawl -- it's gorgeous.

Wait...my other resolution was to stop playing Zynga games on Facebook. I gave it up January 1st and haven't been back. I'm pretty sure that's how I was able to pick up my first intarsia project, and learn crochet.

My new obsessions this year (not craft-related, although I made them craft-related!) were the movie Avengers (and the villain, Loki), finishing season 2 of Downton Abbey (almost there!), and BBC Sherlock. In fact, I spend most of my time over at the 221b group on Ravelry, and have a swap to finish up in the new year.

Amigurumi Loki...hanging with his mermaid friend (found her at the AQS show in August)
The benefits of learning crochet!

Where will 2013 take you?